As the adoption of videoconferencing technology is becoming more widespread in both home and office environments, there are trends toward an immersive experience, referred to as telepresence. Systems supporting a telepresence experience can include telepresence sites having one or more traditional video cameras and relatively large displays, e.g., projection displays that can offer life-sized images of participants at remote telepresence sites. As bandwidth and other infrastructure begin to support larger video displays for videoconferencing, inconsistencies will become more apparent between how a traditional camera usually captures an image for videoconferencing and the metaphor that is most natural for remote interaction. For example, when the various participants are at a range of different distances from a local video camera, captured images of those participants closest to the video camera may be distorted, or even cropped if any part of them happens to extend outside of a field of view of the video camera. Consequently, presentation of the participants on a display wall of a remote telepresence site will appear distorted and/or cropped. Accordingly, it is not readily apparent where a camera or cameras can be placed, and how each camera's video should be processed to produce a meaningful illusion of presence.
The “TouchLight” imaging touch screen and display for gesture-based interaction, developed by Microsoft® Research division of Microsoft® Corporation of Redmond, Wash., is an example of a display that provides a camera located behind a semi-transparent display screen. Unfortunately, such configurations impose restrictions on the types of displays, as well as on requirements for unobstructed physical space behind the display. It is unclear how such display systems could be mounted on an existing surface, such as a conference room wall, without opening the wall to provide access to physical space located behind the wall.